Blu and Gustav: Two Norwegians, One Kona Goal

Earlier this year we had the opportunity to spend some time chasing the Norwegian triathlon juggernaut around Lanzarote, getting some photos of Kristian Blummenfelt, Gustav Iden and Casper Stornes (along with their training partner Marius Bjerkeset) during a hilly training ride on the Canary Island before sitting down for a Q and A with the three world champions. The message throughout the conversation was clear: Kona was the ultimate goal for all three.

“I Feel It’s About Time”

Blummenfelt, the reigning IRONMAN Pro Series champion, was clear that the plans were to be more patient with his training volume and intensity, building towards a peak in October rather than chasing early results. It’s hard to figure out exactly how all that has played out. After a tough day at IRONMAN New Zealand, Blummenfelt used an incredible run split to handily beat Jelle Geens and Haydon Wilde at IRONMAN 70.3 Geelong, then dominated again at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside. His dominant run continued with a huge win at IRONMAN Texas, where he went 7:21:24, just 13 seconds off his Cozumel “world best” time. That performance came despite a slow leak during the latter stages of the bike and thanks to a 2:30:47 run split.

Things got tougher at Challenge Roth, though, where Sam Laidlow rode clear and stayed ahead despite Blummenfelt’s 2:29:33 marathon split. Another incredible run (1:05:12) at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice wasn’t enough to catch Wilde, relegating Blummenfelt to yet another runner-up finish at the 70.3 worlds (he lost a sprint to Geens last year). 

So does he feel the year has been going according to plan?

“We’ll see after Saturday,” he said. “If I win, then we’re on plan. If I fail, then we’re off track and we have to figure out what went wrong. But it was a good start to the season, with three wins early on and then a podium in Nice. Every year comes down to who wins the IRONMAN World Championship. You can have a terrible year, but win on the day, and suddenly it’s the best year of your life. Or you can have a brilliant year, fail on the big day, and you just look like an idiot.”

All of which will no-doubt energize Blummenfelt as he looks for that elusive Kona title on Saturday. While he’s won the IRONMAN World Championship, that win came in 2022 in St. George. In Kona he’s finished third (behind Iden and Laidlow) in 2022, and suffered a stomach meltdown in 2024 and struggled across the line in 35th. He’s fully aware that a win in Kona will require “many things to go right.” He acknowledges that he’s struggled to “defend” titles – gold evaded him in Paris, and he’s yet to win a second IRONMAN or IRONMAN 70.3 world title. When asked about putting pressure on himself to win this weekend, he acknowledged that he’s both determined to win, all while being realistic about the challenge.

“I haven’t won since 2022,” he said. “Who likes to finish second? I think everyone wants to win, but I feel it’s about time. I was getting close four weeks ago in Nice, and it’s okay to be on the podium, because then you’re relevant. But you do want to grab the tape.”

Gustav’s Journey

After a rolled ankle earlier this year, it’s been easier to see Iden’s build towards another Kona title. Despite Iden’s two 70.3 world titles (2019 and a successful “defence” in St. George in 2021) and his 2022 Kona title, last year’s runner-up finish in Nice was almost a surprise after he’d struggled for a few years. That Nice finish extended his career, he says, and seems to have grounded Iden with the realization that he remains one of the sport’s premier athletes, and doesn’t have to press for another chance to shine on the Big Island. He simply needs to be ready to take advantage of the opportunity should it present itself again – as it did in 2022, when he surged out of the Energy Lab to run down Laidlow thanks to a course-record 2:36:15 marathon. 

All of that said, the recovery from the winter injury was much more of a challenge than Iden had anticipated.

The rolled ankle took way longer than I expected,” he said. “Even in Lanzarote I thought I was right around the corner from running fully again, but it took a very long time. I had pain well into IRONMAN Texas.”

The year has been a steady build towards Kona for Iden. A 12th at Oceanside was followed by an eighth-place finish in Texas. Then came a runner-up finish (behind Stornes) in Frankfurt, followed by a fourth in Nice.

Iden looks at his two Kona experiences in very different ways. 2022 was “awesome.” 2024 was a nightmare. Coming into this year’s race, though, things have generally been going well, but he’s still not as confident as he’d like.

The build-up has been pretty good. No sickness for a long time, and I’ve been running consistently well.

“I did have a session that was a bit worse than I hoped for,” he said. “Our training philosophy involves a lot of threshold work throughout the season, so we have a few key sessions I really want to nail before the race. When you only have two or three of those before a race, you need to nail everything. The first one wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. It wasn’t extremely bad, but I had high expectations, and that messed with my head a little. This weekend it was much better. In the same way I’m building into the season, I’m building into the heat, and I think on Saturday everything will be fine.”

(That session this weekend was reportedly an over distance swim and and the bike course on Saturday, followed by a 40 km run on Sunday.)

Casper’s Accident

Sadly, due to a crash a couple of weeks ago, Stornes is now out of the race. Both acknowledged that his upbeat demeanour has helped them as they prepare for Saturday’s race.

“The thing about a group of three athletes is that it’s extremely fragile if someone is in a bad mood, or sick, or injured,” Iden said. “So, of course it was a shock when he was out of the race. But he was in such a good mood considering everything, and that really helped Kristian and me go straight back into training. He accepted his fate right away and was able to reset himself. If it hadn’t been for his mood, I think it would have been a much bigger challenge for us.”

“He was obviously very down when he got in the car and drove to the hospital, but when he came back the same night he was in a good mood, and he stayed that way until he left,” Blummenfelt said. “He also seemed in a good mood back in Bergen when we called him a day or two ago. He’s already sending us reels of funny stuff on Instagram. It’s just a shame to see him not able to defend his title.”

So it would appear that even though there group has diminished by one, the Norwegian crew will be ready to go this Saturday.

Blummenfelt’s impressive consistency makes him the in-form favourite for Saturday’s race. Iden returns as the former champ who knows exactly how to win on the Big Island. Both have made it clear that they look to put a Norwegian on the top of the podium again at the IRONMAN World Championship, even if a podium sweep like last year isn’t likely without Stornes. 

There will be lots of athletes ready to take them on, determined not to let them have their way and dominate another world championship. As far as I can tell, Blummenfelt and Iden relish that challenge.

Kristian Blummenfelt’s Giant Trinity Advanced SL

Gustav Iden’s Giant Trinity Advanced SL

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